Framed (1930) User Reviews

A Picture for Evelyn Brent

[wes-connors · 5/10 · 24 October 2014]

Brutishly interrogated by seven bullying detectives, beautiful Evelyn Brent (as Rose Manning) claims she knows nothing about a recent cop killing. Informed her racketeering father was also shot to death during the incident, Ms. Brent vows revenge against police inspector William Holden (as "Butch" McArthur) and the other "coppers" responsible. Five years later, Brent runs a nightclub casino popular with underworld types. Brent attracts many men, ranging from manicured bootlegger Ralf Harolde (as Chuck Gaines) to innocent youngish Regis Toomey (as Jimmy). The latter man has a secret which tests Brent's resolve...

This run-of-the-mill melodrama is enjoyably for the dramatics and great beauty provided by Brent. She proved to be as good in "all-talking" pictures as she was in "silent" movies, but the parts she received were getting worse. Her "Framed" role calls for obvious melodramatics, but Brent manages to get in some subtle moments. William Holden is not the 1950s super-star. Having a lot of fun with their characters are villainous Mr. Harolde and henchman Maurice Black (as "Bing" Murdock). The former keeps his fingernails clean; the latter helps Brent and director George Archainbaud make the apartment confrontation a highlight.

***** Framed (3/16/30) George Archainbaud ~ Evelyn Brent, Regis Toomey, Ralf Harolde, William Holden

Solid Gangster Film

[phawley-251-115921 · 6/10 · 2 November 2021]

This is a solid gangster film. It's interesting as it is precode and it's very sinister on multiple levels.

The plot does take twists and turns and it keeps you interested. The performances are solid, sufficient, believable, but seeing once is enough....

The corks are popping, and so are fire arms.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 29 August 2016]

"Make hay while the sun shines and whoopee while the moon shines." So speaks Evelyn Brent, the glamorous operator of a casino where the booze flows as the bullets fly. With Brent's line, you know that you are in the world of pre-code Hollywood where pretty much anything goes. This drama focuses on Brent's love for decent Regis Toomey, the son of the cop who killed her father. Add in other elements of organized crime muscling in on her, and you've got a pretty spicy tale of cafe society when sobriety was not an option no matter what the law said.

Other than some moments when certain actors speak very slowly, this is a rather interesting look at what was going on during that free for all era of prohibition. Brent's not quite a Texas Guinan or Sophie Tucker, but don't let her all American girl look fool you. Toomey, better in supporting parts, remains one of the true curiosities as a leading man, being totally bland. This reminded me of "Shopworn", another pre-code drama with similar themes, except in that film, it was a possessive mother father than a disproving father that also featured Toomey. Ralfe Harold a rather slimy rival. As pre- code films go, this is an early talkie example of how enjoyable they could be, even if the technical standards needed improving.

Female Star Evelyn Brent Shines and Drives Male Oriented Genre

[LeonLouisRicci · 6/10 · 21 October 2014]

Creaky, but Sometimes Clever, this Early Talkie was Headlined by Evelyn Brent, Hardly a Household Name. But Her Acting Ability, Especially Making the Transition from the Silents, is Obvious and She Shines in this Male Oriented Gangster Film.

Regis Toomey, in an Early Role, is Underused and Bland, but as Brent Carries the Film it Plods Along with the Expected Datedness that Plagued the Era from 1927-to about 1933. Hollywood's Transition from Silents to Talkies was, Like All Births, Painful at Times.

This One Fares Pretty Good, but Cannot Escapes the Confines of its Playdate. Worth a Watch to See the Unknown Brent and as a Bridge Roughly Traveled as Filmdom was Finding its Feet with New Technology. The Opening and Closing are Stylistic and Connected, the Middle Meanders a bit, but Manages to be Entertaining Enough to Recommend.

Note...There is very little Pre-Code Inclusions worth noting and the Film would have passed the Censors with no problem.

Great In Spots

[boblipton · 7/10 · 22 July 2023]

Police Inspector William Holden tells Evelyn Brent that his men have killed her father during an arrest. She decides she will have her vengeance. It takes five years before it becomes a possibility, when she's singing at her lover's night club. Ralf Harolde is a gangster himself, but neither he nor Miss Brent know that Regis Toomey is Holden's son until he tells her, and she sees his love for her a path to revenge.

There's a lovely ur-noir sequence that opens the movie with Miss Brent being interrogated by the police, and the darkness in the cinematic world persists for the first ten or fifteen minutes, until the somewhat soap-opera-like plot takes over, with Toomey improbably naive.

That's not the William Holden who was a major star from about 1940 through his death in the early 1980s. This was an earlier fellow with the same name; he died in 1932 at the age of 69 after a long career on stage and in film.

like the premise and the actress

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 23 July 2023]

Rose Manning (Evelyn Brent) loses her criminal father in a police shootout. She is interrogated by police inspector Butch McArthur and she vows revenge. Five years later, she is the hostess in a casino owned by bootlegger Chuck Gaines (Ralf Harolde) who has his eyes on her. She falls for Jimmy McArthur (Regis Toomey) before knowing that his father is the man she hates.

This is a pre-Code crime drama. I really like the premise and Evelyn Brent has ballsy energy. The longtime actress was able to make the transition from silent to talkie. I'm not completely in love with this relationship. It's a bit bland. Mostly, he's a bit bland. I wouldn't mind a few more scenes with Chuck doing violent crimes. That would elevate the tension. All in all, this is good enough.

A romance rather than a gangster film

[1930s_Time_Machine · 3/10 · 8 August 2023]

This very effectively captures the feel of society's seedier side in 1930; that however is the only interesting thing about this film. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the production, the photography and even the acting, these are all fine but there's nothing distinctive about it.

I doubt that anyone ran excitedly into RKO's commissioning office one early morning shouting that they had a brilliant, fantastic idea for a movie they wanted to make called FRAMED. A more likely scenario is that the board thought something like this was might fill the cinemas and make them money.

With a few very notable exceptions, films from 1929/1930 are probably not going to be as good as those which came afterwards but even for 1930, this is very disappointing. The Depression hadn't kicked in yet and this made by RKO which at the time was a big and prestigeous studio.

The fault I think lies in the script. The writer had probably been reading GREAT EXPECTATIONS the night before he wrote this. The Miss Havisham 'revenge by breaking someone's heart' motif is used here as the plot. Whereas however GREAT EXPECTATIONS has that one story as one of dozens of intertwined themes running through it, this has just this one. You can't expect every writer to be a Dickens but you should expect better writing than this. There's often a purity and a focus in early thirties pictures which can mean that there's little background, or sub-plots to interfere with the main story. That approach however only works when the story itself is strong enough to hold your attention. How a film usually does that is by making its characters relatable and engaging so that when you're watching, you don't just believe that they are real but you care about them. This has a rather dull, predictable and humourless story with unpleasant characters you couldn't care less about.

As a romance, which is what this tries to be, it's very flat. For something like this to work, the characters have got to be likeable, you need to want to know more about them. Some actors and actresses you just warm to straight away but unfortunately, though no fault of her own, Evelyn Brent isn't one of those. You might wonder why at one point she wears the most ridiculous comedy dress of the 1930 but apart from that you'll not give a hoot about what happens to her. She's actually a reasonable actress and carries off this role quite well but the role she's playing is not someone you'd ever want to know and she herself doesn't have that certain X factor which makes you want to watch her.

As for the men, Regis Toomey plays the part of the boyfriend with equal and contrasting measures of utter, utter blandness and annoying stupidity. After five minutes of him being on your screen you will hoping that someone shoots the poor sap and puts us out of our misery. Ralf Harolde plays the dullest gangster ever but you need to appreciate that this was written at the time and people like this obviously existed. Not all crime bosses in 1930 were interesting, they can't possibly all have been dynamic, loveable rogues or terrifying psychopaths, a lot of them were boring and bland like the role Ralf Harold's plays. The question is: why bothering making a film about uninteresting people? Authenticity does not always equal entertainment.

This Movie Devolved

[view_and_review · 2/10 · 3 February 2024]

I'm not very familiar with the writing process of scriptwriters, but it seems to me that some of them write a resolution to a conflict first then try to figure out how to get to that resolution. If they can't think of a seamless way to achieve the resolution, they just shoehorn things into the story. Paul Schofield and Wallace Smith certainly did some shoehorning in "Framed."

A woman named Rose Manning (Evelyn Brent) was hell bent on avenging her father who was shot and killed by police. She blamed Butch McArthur (William Holden), the chief inspector. Rose worked in a nightclub run by Chuck Gaines (Ralf Harolde). Chuck was sweet on Rose though she didn't have the same feelings for him.

Rose saw her chance to get even with Butch when she found out his son Jimmy (Regis Toomey) was frequenting the night club and had taken a liking to her. What better way to hurt Papa McArthur than through Sonny McArthur? The only problem was that she liked Jimmy almost as much as he liked her.

What began as an adult movie with adult writing and an adult premise devolved into gibberish. Suddenly, gangsters who'd done well evading the law and making a name for themselves were no longer capable of making rational decisions.

The erosion of the movie's credibility began when the head gangster, Chuck Gaines, ordered his hitman Bing (Maurice Black) to kill Jimmy (the inspector's son). His reasoning was twofold: 1.) it would hurt Butch McArthur and 2.) it would eliminate a rival for Rose's love. It was a dumb idea because Chuck had to know that Butch would make it his mission to destroy him.

Be that as it may, the order was given. It could've and should've gone without a hitch, EXCEPT Bing (the hitman) decided to tell Rose. Bing was so excited about being given the OK to kill Jimmy that he couldn't wait to tell Rose. He thought she'd be equally excited, however he was dead wrong.

I don't understand why a hitman would inform ANYONE about a murder he plans to commit. Even IF Rose would be pleased with the news, the less people that know the better. Now she can't even have plausible deniability because he opened his big mouth. Killers usually want to limit the amount of people who know what they've done, but in this case the killer was a moron.

Bing being a moron helped the plot because now Rose could run interference and save Jimmy's life, and that's precisely what happened.

There would be a couple of more inexplicably stupid moves by Chuck and Butch which led to one being killed and the other being imprisoned. Hollywood loved to make the public believe that criminals were dumb as if they got to where they got through luck.

Chuck was the one who was killed, and he was killed by the squarest man alive in Jimmy McArthur (Regis Toomey). I've seen Regis Toomey in several movies and not only does he always play a square, he is awful. The guy simply couldn't act. And somehow I'm to believe that a killer like Chuck was disarmed by Jimmy and killed with his own gun. Get real.

"Framed" was simply too elementary, which was a problem with a lot of movies back then. If there is one advantage movies today have over movies of the '30s is that movies today tend to be more nuanced, layered, and realistic. That's not to say that movies today are necessarily better than movies of the past, they're just more credible.

Free on YouTube.

Correction of Identification

[tillmany · 9/10 · 14 December 2004]

The cop's son, as correctly identified in the cast list, is played by Regis Toomey, not by "a very young William Holden" as stated by another viewer.

William Holden (I) (1918-1981) did not enter films until 1938.

The William Holden (II) in this film (1862-1932) is a much older character actor, who plays Inspector McArthur, and who is no relation to his better known latter day namesake.

Considering the six year gap between their two careers, there is really no reason to confuse the two actors.

For further information on Regis Toomey, consult his webpage.

A Fair Gangster Film.

[januszlvii · 5/10 · 10 March 2019]

Is framed a bad movie? No it is not, but nowhere as good as Underworld ( Which features Evelyn Brent who is the main star here). One big problem is her character Rose is very unappealing to look at. She is very hard looking and looks about a decade older then Jimmy McArthur ( Regis Toomey). What he sees in her I will never know. I remember seeing her in The Mating Call ( one of 7 Brent films I have seen), and even in a negligee she was not beautiful. Rose is an embittered woman who is involved with gangsters and gets involved with Jimmy because she holds his policeman father responsible for her father's death, and sees him as a way to get revenge. Spoilers Ahead: Rose eventually does fall for Jimmy who kills the gangster Rose is involved in, and she helps him save his father who was targeted for death by his gang, so they do end up together. A fair gangster movie.

Disappointing

[AAdaSC · 4/10 · 2 October 2018]

Evelyn Brent (Rose) is on the side of the baddies, in particular the slimy, shady Ralf Harolde (Chuck). She is questioned over the shooting of a policeman but gives nothing away. She is then told that her dad has been killed in the shootout and she holds a grudge against Inspector William Holden (Butch) whom she blames. Fast forward a few years and Brent is a nightclub hostess working for the same gang but falling in love with Regis Toomey (Jimmy) who is a client at the nightclub. Wait a minute..........Toomey is the son of Holden....could be a tricky relationship..

It shouldn't be a tricky relationship at all. Toomey is so awful that he should completely be used and then killed. Watch and find out. Some of you may be disappointed with how things pan out but don't worry because there is someone else who is also completely awful - Maurice Black (Bing). He plays a killer. Great miscasting. Anyway, maybe he'll be killed. Watch and find out.

In summary, not everything that you wish to happen actually does happen. The film is saved by the end sequences but a lot of this cast are just plain crap.

What a wonderful mess of a film ....

[AlsExGal · 8/10 · 1 October 2016]

... with some Hitchcockian irony thrown in. This was certainly a good vehicle for Evelyn Brent who plays Rose Manning. The first scene is her surrounded by cops acting like a football team. Maybe if they confuse her with enough questions she'll confess? In this case they are looking for the killer of her father. Two of his associates are shown to her in a lineup and she says she does not know them.

Meanwhile she is sure that Police Inspector "Butch" McArthur (William Holden...no not THAT William Holden) is responsible for her beloved dad's murder, and years later she still wants revenge.. She goes to work for gangster Chuck Gaines (Raf Harolde) as a hostess at his nightclub. At least I THINK that's her job. She doesn't sing or dance, just goes from table to table. The front story to keep the customers off of her is that she is Gaines' girl. Problem is, the story is apparently so convincing even Gaines believes it. A young guy is at the club night after night (Regis Toomey as Jimmy) who is head over heels for Rose and wants to marry her, taking up all of Rose's time. She thinks he is just a sweet kid until she finds out Jimmy is actually the inspector's son, the son of the man she think killed her dad. What worse revenge could she send upon him than to have a gun moll as his daughter in law? Meanwhile Chuck Gaines is a dumb gangster or the police are even more dumb. First off, Raf Harolde portrays his gangster more as cowardly weasel than brains of a syndicate. Jimmy Cagney he is not. But then WB in its prime RKO is not either, so what can I say? Gaines never does the killing himself, he always sends his doorman out to do the job, dressed up in a costume as obvious as an organ grinder, and uses the same corner drugstore and the same time (midnight) for all of his hits. The owner of the all night drugstore, the police, and the fact that it is all of Gaines' old friends that are being bumped off should make somebody wise to this guy's ways.

How does this all work out? Very ironically in a way you'd never guess. Yes some of the scenes are laughable, but overall it is one of the better early talkie films I've seen from that year.

What a great crime drama!

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 23 September 2013]

I am really shocked that "Framed" is not a more famous film. I am also surprised that it's somehow lapsed into the public domain--an inglorious ending to a terrific gangster film.

Evelyn Brent plays Rose Manning--one of the hardest dames you could ever see in Pre-Code gangster films. Shortly after the film begins, Rose learns that the one person in life she cared about, her father, has been killed in a shootout with the cops. She blames Inspector McArthur (William Holden--NOT the one you're thinking about, but an older actor of the same name) and wants her revenge. However, she's a smart cookie and her revenge will be slow in coming. In the meantime, she becomes pals with a hood named Bing (the aptly named Maurice Black) and they open a classy gambling hall named after her.

Time passes and finally you learn of Rose's plan. She has seduced Inspector McArthur's very naive son, Jimmy (Regis Toomey) and she knows this will drive the Inspector nuts! How did she do it? She convinced the young dummy that she is an innocent lady who truly loves him! Not surprisingly, when Jimmy tells his father, there is a HUGE blowup between them and Jimmy won't believe that his fiancée is a criminal. However, Bing is NOT a subtle sort of guy. Despite Rose's plan, he decides the best thing to do is just kill Jimmy. But when Rose learns of this, you see that this hard-hearted dame MIGHT just have fallen for the squirt. What's next? See this film.

This film has so much going for it. Most importantly, at the time this film was made, Radio Pictures was doing a great job with sound pictures. I have seen several of their films from 1929-1930 and the sound is VERY clear and the actors don't tend to stand around hidden microphones--a serious problem with many of the early talkies. Additionally, the film, while a tad sentimental at the end, is great because the bad people really are awful and the film avoids pulling its punches. I'd stack this crime film up along side the best of the genre of the day ("Little Caesar", "Scarface" and "The Public Enemy")--due to wonderful writing, acting and a professional production all around. Well worth seeing--and available for free download at archive.org.

great but rare gangster film

[johnc2141 · 8/10 · 9 July 2010]

I recently caught this one on the internet archives,since i like gangster movies like public enemy and scarface i had a feeling i would enjoy this one even though its a b movie from rko radio pictures that would make a blockbuster movie 3 years later,that movie of course was king Kong that broke all box office records and saved rko from going bankrupt.the story is simple a gangsters daughter is being questioned from the police because her dad and a cop were both killed.she is bullied by a police official and she vows to get revenge afterwords.years later she is the co owner of a nightclub and becomes romantically involved with the police officials son.but does'nt know its his son until someone tells her.not giving away spoilers but this is a good movie made around the same time as public enemy and little ceasar.8 out of 10

Evelyn Brent in a Blistering Performance!!

[kidboots · 8/10 · 10 September 2013]

No one did sulky/sultry quite like Evelyn Brent. She really hit her stride in the late 1920s with parts in a couple of Josef von Sternberg ground breaking films. When talkies came along she was thought enough of by Paramount to be cast in their first all talkie production, "Interference", and no one in the cast (not even William Powell) seemed more natural or at ease in front of a mike than Evelyn. Even though Paramount had her pegged for stardom she was mysteriously let go amid rumours of temperament but Brent claimed that as an independent woman she was just speaking her mind. Fortunately for film fans her brand of "bad girl" continued to be in demand and in "Framed" she gives a blistering performance which makes you wonder why she didn't find stardom - especially when Ralf Harolde, who plays "Chuck" gives a very mannered, stagy performance, obviously still finding his "talkie" feet!!

Film opens (and closes) with an innovatively filmed interrogation scene in which Rose Manning is grilled by the police and realises that they may have killed her father. Five years later a vengeful Rose is now a nightclub hostess but still planning the demise of police chief "Butch" McArthur (William Holden) - through his son, persistent nightclub patron Jimmie (Regis Toomey - did he ever play a tough guy - I doubt it!!) There is more than enough evidence to suggest with Harolde's "madly mugging" performance that he was the real killer of Rose's dad. The result is an okay crime meller (to give audiences of the day their gangster fix) with some interesting camera angles that only the smaller studios seemed game enough to try.

Tough talking Brent keeps the action flowing and is the main reason to watch. Her costumes are gorgeous and must have blown Radio's yearly budget - there is a silver geometric evening dress and one with feathers - how could any man resist her?

Brent looks good and plays well in a hard boiled revenge flic

[pyamada · 8/10 · 4 November 2002]

The career of Evelyn Brent probably peaked in the end of the silent era. She made three pics with von Sternberg (Underworld; Last Command; and The Dragnet) and a solid effort with William Wellman (Woman Trap) and did make the jump to talkies, but none of HER pics were successful. This one is mostly straight revenge, taking out her emotions through the cop's son, played by a very young William Holden. Brent has an undisputable presence, and an intriguing nose, and her gowns and dresses are frequently revealing...one or two are cut so low in the back that they would be fashionable and mildly daring today. Fans of early talkies will love this!

Not Bad AT ALL

[Enrique-Sanchez-56 · 10/10 · 2 June 2019]

I really enjoyed this early talkie better than I expected. Evelyn Brent was terrific as a gal gone the wrong way - and she should have been a star or at least a major player. But that's always a roll of dice in Hollywood.

Any resemblance to a B-picture are wholly unfair. The plot was interesting - all the actors' performances were fine - all right, not stellar but - earnestly played except for the downplayed hoodlum played by Ralf Harolde. It does not bother that some have called it stagey. I expect this from the early talkies and I compensate for it and so should you.

The ending was whimsical and perhaps some of you may not expect it but I found it pleasing.

Surprisingly good movie!

[nvyoda · 10/10 · 27 July 2023]

Surprisingly good movie! I liked the tight focused storyline. Especially with a female character as the center of the movie. Rose has several very strong lines that I could hear Barbara Stanwyck say.

The set decorations were impressive. I did not notice all the art decor touches until the raid and the police began tearing down the club.

Rose's apartment was very fashionable. I think I saw her drapes in an episode of Miami Vice! The settee/bench/sofa that Rose and Bing sit on looks very stylish but also uncomfortable. Made a good shot though.

Rose's gowns are breathtaking. It is a shame that the designer was not listed in the credits. I thought they were very fitted and daring. You could see that a flesh tone netting of some sort was used to hold the gowns in place. In a year, Kay Francis would be wearing those gowns unsecured.

Really good movie. So glad I was able to see it.